Tippe Top

A tippe top consists of slightly more than a hemisphere with a cylindrical stem. (The red axis is not part of the top.) The top starts spinning on the hemispherical portion. As it spins, the top spontaneously turns itself upside down and begins spinning on the stem. As opposed to a pointed top, the contact point cannot remain in the axis of spin, because the surface is spherical. The contact point is also not on the vertical line passing through the center of gravity around which the tippe top rotates. This Demonstration models only the kinematics of the behavior.